


Talk Me Down

by WaywardWanderer



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Murder, Blood Magic, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Cop Derek Hale, F/M, M/M, Murder, Nogitsune Trauma, Sheriff Stilinski Knows, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-23 16:27:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7470864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaywardWanderer/pseuds/WaywardWanderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek has been a cop in New York for four years in the supernatural division. He gets transferred to Oregon to help work on a murder case. Two twenty three year old males, three weeks apart. Both found with riddles carved into their skin.</p>
<p>On the bright side, his first day in Oregon and he meets the most attractive, nerdy, sarcastic and all around adorable guy he has ever seen. He and Stiles have a date planned for this coming Saturday.</p>
<p>Maybe spending some time in Oregon won’t be so bad?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talk Me Down

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Troye Sivan's album Blue Neighborhood.

Derek wakes up alone in his bed. At first he thinks Stiles just up and left in the middle of the night. It wouldn't be the first time that happened. Stiles never spends a full night over at his place. He's always gone before the sun comes up. But then he hears whispering coming from the bathroom. He doesn't like using his werewolf hearing on Stiles, especially since Stiles has no idea he's a werewolf in the first place, but the whispering has taken on an angry edge to it.

“-you can't. It's not his fault. He just- yeah, I know, but- God, fine will you just let me finish a fucking sentence here?” Derek doesn't hear Stiles swear very often, and what’s more, he doesn't hear another voice. Maybe he's on the phone? Derek gets out of bed and pads over to the bathroom, still unable to hear a second voice. Usually he's able to pick up at last a staticky murmur over the phone. All he hears is Stiles' voice getting more and more angry. “Don't you dare, you know if you do I'll- Derek?” he suddenly calls, startling Derek. Stiles opens the bathroom door. “What are you doing?”

“Um,” Derek says, “Were you on the phone?”

“No,” Stiles says, confused. “Why?”

“Who were you talking to?” Derek asks, glancing past Stiles' shoulder into the bathroom. No one there.

“Oh,” Stiles laughs. “Just talking to myself.” Derek can hear the steady heartbeat, knows Stiles isn't lying.

“You sounded... kinda upset. Like, mad about something. Everything okay?”

“Oh,” Stiles says again, waving his hand dismissively. “Yeah, uh, just stubbed my toe.” Derek can hear the uptick of Stiles heart, knows he's not telling the truth.

“You sure you're okay?”

“I'm fine,” Stiles smiles. Another lie. “Let's go back to bed.” he grabs Derek's hand and leads him back to his bedroom. They land on the bed and Stiles kisses him. “Thanks for comin' to check on me.”

Derek smiles tiredly. “Anytime.”

0o0

Derek wakes up a few hours later. Stiles nowhere to be seen.

0o0

A week later they were on Derek's couch watching some anime Stiles insisted Derek needed to watch, when Stiles says out of the blue: “You know, if you ever need any help with your case, I could take a look at it.”

“Oh yeah? You ever solve a murder case before?” Derek jokes.

Stiles laughs. “Oh, once or twice.”

“Wait, are you serious?” Derek sits up straighter.

Stiles shrugged. “My dad was the sheriff back home. I was a curious kid.”

Derek laughed. “Well, I doubt the DA would like me sharing my info with my boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend, huh?” Stiles grins at him.

Derek faltered. “I mean- I didn't mean- I know we haven't really talked about it-”

“No no, boyfriend sounds good.” Stiles says, a slight blush creeping up his face. “Just a warning though, I kinda suck at being a boyfriend. Or so I've been told.”

“Well,” Derek says, leaning in and forgetting about whatever was going on on the TV. “Maybe you just haven't met the right person yet.”

“Maybe,” Stiles smiles and kisses him.

0o0

A few weeks later and Derek can't help but notice small things here and there. Like how Stiles would lie about small, insignificant things. Derek could hear the unsteady beat of Stiles heart every time he'd lie. It would be about stupid things, too. About his childhood friends, or things about his town. About where he went to school. Derek didn't know why Stiles was lying, but he didn't press.

Another oddity was whenever they were watching TV and something about the murders would come on, Stiles would get fidgety. He'd smell of anxiety, and he'd excuse himself to the bathroom.

After the first time that happened, Derek ran a background check on Stiles. Nothing out of the ordinary came up. No red flags to tie him to any of the murders. Derek felt like an ass, suspecting his boyfriend of something like that. Stiles couldn't even kill the spider that had been crawling on the floor a few days ago. There was no way he could kill those people.

He did however find out that Stiles grew up in Beacon Hills, the same town Derek was originally from, before his family moved after a fire. Stiles had said he was from a small town in California, but he had never said were. Maybe Derek should bring it up? That they grew up in the same town. Went to the same school. Although, if Stiles hadn't mentioned Beacon Hills, there was probably a good reason. The most obvious was that Stiles knew about the supernatural and hadn't wanted to freak Derek out. He didn't know that Derek was a werewolf. Maybe Derek should talk to him? Although, there was a chance that Stiles didn't know anything, and if Derek started talking about werewolves and the like, Stiles would think he was crazy.

Better to just play it safe, for now.

The third time it happened, Stiles got up from the couch, muttered something about the bathroom, but Derek grabbed his wrist. “You know I won’t let anything happen to you, right?”

“What?” Stiles asks, a confused look on his face. Derek could hear his heart beating unsteadily, though.

“Whoever's out there killing people, you don't really fit with their MO.”

“You don't know that for sure.” Stiles says. “There have only been two bodies. The only thing you have connecting them is the way the bodies were found. You don't know why they were killed, or what else connects them.”

“Yeah, sure, but we're working on-” Derek begins, but Stiles interrupts.

“You're working on it? Derek, you haven't found anything new since you got here! It's been over a month.”

“Don't you think I know that?” Derek nearly shouts. “What the hell do you know about it? You're not a cop. You're not out there!”

“I may not be a cop, but I know you're not looking at the evidence that you already have! You're just waiting for another body to show up!”

“That's not true!” Derek yells. He can smell the fear radiating off of Stiles, knows he should calm down and just talk this out. He knows Stiles is more afraid than angry, but damn it, Derek already felt awful about this. He had been brought in to solve this case, and he was coming up with nothing every time. “We've combed over the evidence, there isn't exactly a lot of it to go on!”

“There's enough!” Stiles shouts back. “Look at the riddles! It's there-” Stiles nose suddenly starts to bleed. “Fuck,” he says frustratingly, dabbing at it. He huffs and heads to the bathroom, slamming the door.

Derek sighs, roughly rubbing at his eyes. This was their first fight. It had to happen sooner or later. it- wait a minute. He hesitates before going over to the bathroom and knocking on the door. “Stiles, can I come in?”

“Yeah,” Stiles replies, voice muffled.

When Derek opens the door, stiles is sitting on the edge of the bathtub, wad of toilet paper under his nose. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Stiles says, not looking at him.

“I'm sorry.”

“You don't have to be sorry. I'm the one that started it.” Stiles says, still not looking at him.

“Stiles,” Derek says seriously, squatting down to look at him “How did you know about the riddles?”

Stiles shrugs. “The news.”

Even without being able to hear the lie, Derek knew he wasn't telling the truth. “That part wasn't on the news.” he could smell the anxiety wafting off of Stiles, guilt and worry mixed in. “How did you know about it?”

Stiles hesitantly said, “I might have looked at the files that you have here.”

There was no uptick to his heartbeat. Derek sighs. That's twice now that he thought Stiles might have had something to do with all of this. What is wrong with him? Still, he couldn't have Stiles snooping around that stuff. “You can't go looking through my stuff. Especially not that stuff.”

“I know,” Stiles murmurs. “I just-” he cuts himself off.

“Just what?” Derek asks, placing his hand on Stiles knee. Stiles lays his own hand over it and squeezes.

“I'm just scared you won’t figure this out in time.” His voice cracks. “That you'll get hurt.”

Derek lets out a breath. “Nothing's going to happen to me.”

“You don't know that.” Stiles whispers, Still not looking at him. “You could get really hurt, Der, and I, I can't stand the thought of-”

“Hey, hey.” Derek shushes. Taking hold of Stiles face with his hand, the other still gripping Stiles' other hand. “Nothing is going to happen to me.”

Stiles leans into his touch, closing his eyes and nods. “Just be careful, okay?”

“Okay,” Derek says, smiling. He kisses Stiles softly on the forehead. But then he remembers what Stiles said earlier. “What did you mean, look at the riddles?” He can feel Stiles tense up under his hand. “Stiles, if you know something, you have to tell me.”

“I, I don't really know much.” He says haltingly. “Just... noticed some... things.”

“Like what?” Derek urged.

“Like... how instead of an 'S', the killer used some other symbol.”

Derek's shoulders slump, disappointed. That was something they already knew. “Yeah, we noticed that. Not sure what it means yet. It's the Kanji for self.”

Stiles nods, removing the wadded up toilet paper away from his face.

“Does that mean anything to you?”

“Not really,” Stiles shrugs. “It just seemed kinda familiar. I dunno. Like I'd seen it somewhere.”

Derek nodded. “Okay.” It wasn't anything he didn't already know. But that was okay. It wasn't Stiles job to solve this, it was Derek's. He kissed Stiles on the forehead again. “You okay?”

Stiles sniffed experimentally. “Yeah. Bleeding's stopped.”

“Good.” he said, standing up. “C'mon. I'll order us some food.”

“Tacos?” Stiles asks hopefully.

“Well, duh.” Derek says with a laugh. Stiles laughs too and it's the most beautiful thing Derek's ever heard.

After placing the order he joins Stiles back on the couch. “You wanna stay the night?” He can feel Stiles shift against him, already knows Stiles is going to have an excuse way he can't.

“Um, maybe.” Stiles answers, switching the TV over to Hulu.

“Maybe.” Derek nods, not looking to have their second fight of the night over something so small.

“It's not that I don't want to,” Stiles begins, biting his lip.

“It's fine, Stiles. I don't mind. I just want you to know that if you change your mind, I would love to cook you pancakes in the morning.”

“Pancakes, huh?” Stiles smirks. “You do know how to make a pretty mean flapjack.”

“Mhmm.” He grins, a glint in his eye.

“Der, don't-” Too late. Derek launches himself across the couch and onto a giggling Stiles. He shoves his face into the crook of Stiles neck. “Der, Stop! That tickles!” he shrieks with laughter. Derek just continues to rub his stubble on Stiles neck, using his fingers to attack his sides. “Please, Der, ha! Please, please!”

Derek only stops when his phone chimes, telling him that the delivery guy is on his way. “Saved by the bell.” Derek huffs, pretending to be upset.

“Yeah, yeah, you big meany.” Stiles grumbles, the effect lost do to small giggles.

They eat in relative silence, Stiles commenting on this or that of whatever show he had put on.

Later that night they were lying in Derek's bed naked, snuggled up to each other. Stiles was tracing small swirls on Derek's arm.

“So,” Derek begins hesitantly. “I'm gonna ask you to stay again.”

“Derek.” Stiles sighs exasperatedly.

“Just, why do you leave? Or better yet, how? I never wake up while you're leaving. You're just gone.”

“I'm really stealthy.” Stiles says, no longer tracing designs into Derek's arm.

“You trip over your shoes on a daily basis.” Derek countered, shifting to look at Stiles better. “Why don't you want to stay?”

“Does it bother you that much? Just a few hours ago you said it was fine.”

“I lied.” Derek deadpanned.

Stiles sighed again. “If I tell you, will you drop it?”

“Okay.” Derek agreed.

“I mean it, Der. No follow up questions. No Trying to convince me to stay.”

“Okay.” Derek nodded.

Stiles squints at him, sizing him up. “I... get night terrors.”

Derek doesn't say anything at first, then, “Oh.”

“Oh?” Stiles says.

“Oh.” Derek repeats. He shifts back and snuggles back down.

“That's it?” Stiles asks, confused.

“That's it.” Derek confirms.

“You don't want to know anything else?”

“Stiles,” Derek says, tightening his arms around Stiles waist. “You said no follow up questions.” Stiles doesn't say anything. “Do you want to tell me more?”

“No,” Stiles says, shoulders relaxing. “It's just, usually people ask a lot of questions about it when they find out.”

“Well, I'm not most people.” Derek yawns. He can feel Stiles smiling against his chest where his face is snuggled into. Derek smiles too.

0o0

Predictably, Stiles is gone in the morning. But there is a note left by Derek's coffee maker. A little heart on a sticky note.

0o0

Derek notices Stiles gets headaches a lot. One night when they were watching Netflix on Derek's couch Stiles was giving a running commentary on an episode of Firefly, shushing Derek whenever he'd 'talk over the good parts'. When he suddenly stopped mid sentence. Derek looked over at him to see Stiles holding his head. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Stiles groaned. “Just a headache.”

“I have Tylenol, want me to grab you one?” he offered.

“Two,” Stiles nods.

Derek gets up and goes into the kitchen to grab the bottle. He fills a glass and is almost back to the living room when he overhears Stiles saying “Just give me this, okay? We can do it tomorrow, just give me tonight.”

Derek had asked him about it, but Stiles had shrugged it off. “I read somewhere that talking out loud to your headaches will make them go away faster.”

Derek could hear the lie but didn't press.

0o0

The next morning another body showed up, this time a women by the name of Jennifer Blake. Derek had to cancel his and Stiles' dinner date.

A new riddle was carved into the body.

Everyone has it, but no one can lose it.  
What is it?

Once again the 'S's replaced.

A quick Google search gave him the answer of “A shadow.” He still had no idea what these riddles had to do with the murders. Couldn't find anything that connected the riddles to the victims, other than that they had been carved into the skin of each one of them. 

 

0o0

An anonymous tip was called in the following week. A muffled voice that said it knew who the next victim would be. A man named Matt Daehler.

What Matt Daehler had to do with the previous three victims, Derek didn't know. But if he could talk to Daehler, he might be able to find out. It didn't take long to find him, but when Derek called, Daehler didn't pick up.

Derek got the address and went to pay him a visit. He found the apartment fairly quickly, but when he was about to knock on the door, he found it part way open, the smell of blood wafting out. As he unholstered his gun and rounded the corner into the living room he gets a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knows that heartbeat, and it wasn't Matt Daehler's

There's blood all over the floor, seeping into the carpet, and on the hands of the man leaning over the body. “Back away from the body, Stiles.” He says, gun pointed at his boyfriend’s back.

“This isn't what you think it is.” Stiles says. Not turning around.

“Then what the hell is this?” Derek growls. “Did you kill him?”

“This isn't what you think.” He says again, standing up, gun in hand.

“Put the gun down.” He says. He feels sick. He's been dating a murderer for three months. How did he not see it?

“I can't do that, Der.” He says, raising the gun, pointing it at Derek.

“You said this wasn't what I thought.” Derek says, “So tell me what this is. Just put the gun down and explain this to me.”

“This isn't what you think.” Stiles repeats, voice shaking.

“Then tell me what this is.” Derek says in what he hopes is a calming voice. “Just tell me what happened.”

Stiles looks like he's in pain all of the sudden, like just forming a sentence will break him. “I killed him.” He says, forces it out. “I shot him in the leg. Then when he fell, I ripped his heart out of his chest.”

“What?” Derek gasps. He glances at the body. True to his word, there's a hole in Matt's chest, right were the heart should be. “No, that... Why?”

“I killed the others, too.” He went on, again, like the words were causing him pain.

“No,” Derek muttered.

“Yes.” Stiles says. “I tried to help you see, I tried to point you in the right direction. Left you clues.”

“What? What clues? Stiles, this doesn't make sense. Why would you try to help me catch you? Why not just tell me?” Derek asks, confused. None of this made sense.

“I-” Stiles begins, but his body convulses and he stumbles forwards, falling to one knee. “You have to end this, Derek. You have to shoot me.”

“What? No,” Derek argues. What the hell?

“I know you're a werewolf.” Stiles says through gritted teeth.

“What? How?” Derek stutters.

“I knew from the beginning. I spent the better part of high school running around with one, it wasn't hard figuring you out.” Stiles is panting, his eyes going in and out of focus. “I knew you could tell there was something different about me, too. Not a were, but something not all the way human.” He closes his eyes and shudders. “I really wish you would have figured it out sooner.”

“What are you?” Derek asks, lowering his gun slightly. If Stiles was supernatural, maybe this wasn't what it looked like, maybe there was an explanation.

“Don't.” Stiles croaks, eyes flying open, he struggled to stand up. “Don't give me a chance to hurt you. You have to shoot me.”

“No.” Derek says, more fiercely than he feels. “Just tell me what you are, tell me what happened. I can help you.”

“Derek, don't be stupid.” Stiles begs. “You can't help me.”

“I can help you,” Derek repeats. “Just let me take you in. We can figure this out.”

“Derek,” Stiles says, anguish written all over his face. “I'm not going to let you arrest me, and you know it.”

“You just confessed to four murders. You don't really have a choice here.”

“Derek,” Stiles says, voice cracking. “Please, shoot me.” Stiles' face is screwed up in pain.

“No,” Derek growls.

Stiles hands are shaking. “Please, Der. I'll escape police custody. I'll kill more people. I won't ever stop. You have to end this now.”

“Put the gun down, or I will shoot you.”

Stiles sighs, tears in his eyes as he smiles. “No,” he shakes his head. “You won't.” He puts the gun to his own head.

“Don't!” Derek yells, but Stiles has already pulled the trigger.

Except....

Stiles is laughing.

Full on gasping-for-breath laughing.

There's blood on his forehead where the bullet grazed the skin. “Man,” he breathed. “I almost didn't pull the gun away in time. That little shit almost got me.”

Derek blinks in confusion. Whoever this is, it's not Stiles. It looks like him, but not, at the same time. Suddenly there are bags underneath the eyes, dark purple and gray. And the eyes themselves are much darker than Derek remembers. ”Who are you?” He demands, re-aiming his gun.

The thing that looks like Stiles grins. “Wouldn't you like to know.” It lunges at him. Derek shoots, catches it in the shoulder but it doesn't stop coming at him. It grabs him by the jaw and leans in to whisper in his ear. “I'm going to have so much fun, Der bear. Thanks for the jailbreak.” It licks the side of his face, then suddenly he's being thrown across the room like he weighs nothing.

By the time his head stops spinning, Stiles is gone.

0o0

Derek's head is reeling. He can't stop seeing that thing smile at him with Stiles face. It's been twenty four hours and there was nothing. He can't find Stiles, or whatever that thing was, and he can't find anything that connected the other three victims to Daehler. The other victims had all their organs. And Daehler hadn't been carved into at all.

On a long shot Derek decided to look up John Stilinski, Stiles' father, to see if he could help track down Stiles. If John was the Sheriff of Beacon hills, then there was a good chance he already knew about the supernatural.

He called John and told him he was a friend of Stiles and was having trouble reaching him, it technically wasn't a lie.

“Sorry, son, I haven't heard from Stiles in a few days. If I do I'll have him give you a call. What did you say your name was again?”

“Derek. Derek Hale.”

“Derek... Hale?” John paused. “You wouldn't happen to be related to Talia Hale, would you?”

“Talia's my mother.” Derek said.

For a moment all Derek could hear was staticky silence, then, “Is Stiles in trouble?”

“What would make you ask that?” Derek hedged.

“Listen, son, I know who you are. I know you're a werewolf and I know you're a cop, so if you say you're trying to get a hold of my son it can really only be because you're worried about him, or he's done something and you're trying to catch him.”

Derek hesitated, not wanting to give too much away. “Mr. Stilinski, Stiles is part of an ongoing murder investigation. I can't give away too many details.”

Again, silence, then, “I think you might want to pay me a visit in person.”

“I'll be on the next flight.”

0o0

This wasn't how Derek had imagined meeting Stiles father. For one, he hadn't thought it would be because Stiles had murdered four people.

He met John at his house. The man offered him a beer but he declined. They sat down in the living room, John in the squishy arm chair and Derek on the couch.

The first thing John says is, “He's my son. Whatever else he is, he was my son first.”

“What is he, Mr Stilinski?” Derek asked, wanting to get to the bottom of this.

“It's kind of a long story.” John begins. “Back when Stiles was in high school, his best friend was bitten. They hid it for a while, but... I was taken by a... pack, I think you call it? Yeah, a pack of werewolves, and I had no idea what was going on. They couldn't find me... Stiles, Scott and Scott's girlfriend, Allison, did some kind of magic thing, I'm still not sure what it all entailed. But they opened up their minds, to see where Scott's mom, Allison's dad and I were being held.” He scratched the side of his face. “It... left something in them. Scott couldn't control his shift for a while, still sometimes can't. Allison started seeing her dead mom everywhere. I think she's okay now though. And Stiles...”

“Turned into a psychotic killer.”

“Not exactly.” John said. “He was possessed by a demon. A Nogitsune. It made him do... God, awful things.”

“And you didn't stop him?”

“We did.” John said insistently. “We did a binding spell. It worked, I swear. He was better. I don't understand what happened.”

Derek sighed. At least he knew what he was dealing with now. He had heard of dark Kitsune, but this one didn't really fit with what he had heard about them. “Where did you get the spell from?”

“Deaton. Alan Deaton.”

0o0

Derek remembered Dr. Deaton from when he used to live in Beacon Hills. He had been an emissary in training.

“It should have held.” Deaton says in a voice that gets on Derek's nerves. Like they were discussing the weather.

“Well, it didn't. At least four people are dead because your spell didn't hold.”

“The only reason it would have broken, is if someone broke it on purpose.” Deaton shoots back.

“Great,” Derek said through gritted teeth. “So, someone's controlling it, working with it?”

“Oh, I doubt that.” Deaton said. “Whoever did this probably thought they could control the Nogitsune, but something that old and that angry... No. I wouldn't be surprised if your first victim was the person who freed the Nogitsune.”

“So, Theo Raeken might have started all of this?” Derek muttered to himself.

“Theo Raeken?” Deaton questions.

“Yeah. He was the first victim.”

Deaton hummed. “He used to go to school with Stiles.”

“He did?” The background check on Theo hadn't shown that he was from Beacon Hills.

“Yes. As I understand it, he and Stiles never quite got along.”

“Stiles knew him? He didn't show up on any suspect list.”

“Not surprising. The Nogitsune can manipulate information. Cover its tracks.”

“Of course it can.” Derek ground his teeth. “So for all I know, all the information I have on the victims could be false?”

Deaton hummed in agreement. “Who were the other victims?”

Derek sighed. Three months of work, all for nothing. “The first one was Theo, the second was Jackson Whittemore. The Third was a woman, Jennifer Black. The last one was Matt Daehler.” As he said each name he could see Deaton's face grow more and more grim. “You know them, don't you?”

“I do,” Deaton confirmed. “They're all from here. And they all knew Stiles.”

“Great.” Derek huffed. “So this whole time they were all connected and I didn't see it.”

“Again, the Nogitsune can manipulate information. I'm not surprised you didn't catch on.”

“Stiles knew.” Derek said, feeling awful. “He tried to help me and I didn't listen.”

“Stiles was helping you?” Deaton asked, brow furrowed.

Derek nodded. “Every now and then he'd say something, tried to point stuff out about the murders, but I'd brush it off. He-” Derek took a deep breath. “When I found him standing over Matt's body, before he turned into the Nogitsune, he said he had been leaving me clues.”

“That's interesting.” Deaton said, seemingly lost in his own head.

“Well, if I was possessed, I'd try to leave clues too.” Derek said hotly. Of course Stiles had been leaving clues. It's not like he wanted to be possessed.

“It's interesting,” Deaton went on. “Because last time Stiles was unaware of the Nogitsune's presences. He wasn't able to leave clues because he didn't know he was the one setting the traps that were killing people.”

“Traps?” Derek asked. Deaton nodded. “It's not setting traps. It's just killing people and mutilating the bodies.”

“Do you have photos?” Deaton asked.

“Not with me, no. But I can have my team send them over.”

“Please do.” Deaton nodded. “I would be very interested to know what's making the Nogitsune change it's way of killing.”

0o0

It took an hour for the email with all the crime scene photos to come through. He pulled them up on Deaton's office computer. He let Deaton look. Normally he wouldn't dream of letting a civilian look at classified information, but this situation was different.

“This is very strange.” Deaton finally said.

“I know. I'm not sure what the riddles have to do with anything. Even knowing it's a Nogitsune. I mean, I know they like mischief and riddles, but why would it carve those things into the bodies?”

“I don't think it did. I think that was Stiles.”

“Stiles mutilated them?” Derek asked, shocked.

“Desperate times. He was trying to leave clues.”

“Okay, but what makes that a clue? They're just riddles.”

“Not just riddles.” Deaton said, standing up and going to a shelf across the room. He pulled out an old notebook. “Those riddles were the same ones the Nogitsune would recite to Stiles in his dreams.” He handed Derek the notebook. It was covered in scribbles of riddles and pages of recounted dreams. It looked like a dream journal, one that therapists often had you use. “I believe Stiles left them carved into the bodies as a clue, hoping you would recognize them from here. Did he know you were from Beacon Hills?”

Derek shook his head then remembered. “Maybe. I mean, he never said anything, but he knew I was a werewolf. I wouldn't be surprised if he knew.” Derek continued to flip through the pages, some of what was in here making goosebumps pop up on his arms. No wonder Stiles had night terrors. “We tried to figure out what the riddles had to do with the murders. Nothing came up in the system. No old cases. None of this.” This must have been what Stiles was so angry about the night they fought. He must have thought Derek was stupid to not connect the murders back to him. Back to Beacon Hills.

Deaton nodded. “The Nogitsune must have covered it up. Deleted the files so you couldn't connect it.”

Derek closed the notebook and set it down, not wanting to look at anymore of what haunted Stiles' dreams. “What about this?” Derek pointed out one of the photos on the computer. The one with the close up of the Kanji for 'self'.” What does this mean to the Nogitsune, to Stiles?”

“That was what the Oni had used to find the Nogitsune last time. They would perform a soul search on someone, and if they were free of possession, they would leave this mark to show that they were themselves, not the Nogitsune. No doubt another clue left by Stiles.”

“Another one I didn't understand.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “And now he's gone and I have no idea how to find him.”

They spent another few hours going over the files. Deaton was able to shed more light on the murders. Apparently all four victims had had dealings with Stiles in the past, some petty, schoolyard things, some more serious. And they all knew about the Nogitsune. Deaton theorized that they all most likely had a part to play in the release of the Nogitsune. He also surmised that the only reason they all hadn't died right away was do to Stiles.

“I believe that Stiles must have made a deal with it, in hopes that someone would be able to figure out his clues and stop him before it was too late. He must have convinced the Nogitsune to play with it's victims first, kill them off one by one. No doubt they all knew what was killing each other. It wouldn't have been difficult to convince the Nogitsune to slow things down, build the suspense. It feeds off strife, chaos and fear. It would have been a tempting plan.”

“That's smart.” Derek nodded, impressed.

“Stiles was always very clever. I was going to train him to be an emissary when he was done with college.” Derek hadn't known that. He felt like he had learned more about Stiles in the past few hours than he had the past few months.

Stiles never told him the whole truth about a lot of things. Where he grew up, what he wanted to do with his life. Stiles had either straight up lied or told half truths. He understood now that that had been due to the Nogitsune, but back then it had hurt. He had thought Stiles hadn't trusted him. Now he knew that Stiles might have trusted him too much. He had trusted him to solve this, to understand the clues he had left and Derek had failed.

“Why not just tell someone what was happening?” Derek wondered aloud.

Deaton thought for a moment. “My guess would be that he didn't want the Nogitsune to figure out what he was doing. If he came right out and told someone that he was being possessed, the Nogitsune could try to take full control over Stiles' body and go on a rampage. I wouldn't be surprised if the Nogitsune was weakened from the binding spell, counting on Stiles to not do anything rash like call Scott or myself. If Stiles had told one of us from the beginning, we might have been able to do something without the Nogitsune intervening. But now it's grown stronger.” He paused. “I'd imagine that Stiles didn't know how weak the Nogitsune was, didn't know that he could over power it for the first month, at least. It probably threatened him to keep him in line, or caused him some pain here and there whenever Stiles would act up. Nose bleeds, headaches, things like that. Reminders to not act out. It most likely threatened to go after his family and friends. People that meant the most to Stiles.”

Derek felt awful. If only he had figured this out sooner, Stiles would be okay. Instead he was out there somewhere, being forced to do God knows what. “Well, now we have an idea of why the Nogitsune killed those people, now we need a plan to stop it. Do you still have the stuff to perform the binding spell?” Derek hoped so. He didn't know what else to do. He had no idea how to stop a demon.

“Yes,” Deaton said slowly. “But that won't work this time.”

“Why not?” Derek asked.

“For one, I doubt the Nogitsune would fall for it twice.” Deaton got up from his chair and went to put the notebook back. “And second, the spell we used only works once.”

“Of course.” Derek said bitterly. He hated magic sometimes. Always full of stupid rules.

“Although,” Deaton hummed thoughtfully. “That hadn't been our first plan back then.”

“What was your first plan?”

“We were going to turn Stiles into a werewolf.” Deaton says.

“A werewolf? How would that have helped?”

“A fox and a wolf cannot occupy the same host.”

“So, why didn't you do that? Why use the spell?”

“It was the safer option. Scott didn't want to risk hurting Stiles if he could help it.” Derek remembered Stiles talking about Scott some. He must be the werewolf Stiles had mentioned running around with. “Back then, Stiles' body was strong in many ways, thanks to the Nogitsune. But his spirit was weak. Giving Stiles the bite would have killed the Nogitsune, but it would have almost definitely killed Stiles as well.”

Derek nodded. The bite was always a risk. There was always a chance that the person's body would reject it and they would end up dying. “Do you think Stiles will survive the bite?”

Deaton hesitated. “I don't know.” He paused before adding. “When Stiles found out that we had had the chance to not just trap the Nogitsune, but kill it, he wasn't very happy with us. We explained that that would have killed him as well, but he didn't care. I believe he would want us to do that now.”

Derek nodded again. “He wanted me to shoot him. He asked me to, but I said no. He-” Derek shuddered at the memory. “He tried to shoot himself in the head, but the Nogitsune stopped him. “

Deaton let out a breath and closed his eyes for a moment. “Stiles hated being used as a weapon. He had nightmares about it almost every night since. If he thought taking his own life would save someone else, there is no doubt in my mind that he would do it.”

0o0

Derek got a room at one of the motels in town for the night. He didn't sleep much. Nightmares of Stiles shooting himself in the head kept waking him up.

0o0

The next morning he went back to the vets office to meet up with Deaton, and Stiles’ friends Scott, Lydia, and Allison. Derek was right in assuming that Scott was a werewolf. One of the first things Scott said to him was that none of this was Derek's fault. “It took us a long time before we realized it was Stiles that was possessed. The Nogitsune tricked us all.”

Derek didn't know what to say to that so he didn't say anything at all.

The redhead, Lydia, was a Banshee, and was going to help track Stiles. “Lydia is connected with the Nogitsune, we aren't sure how, but we think it's because of how much death surrounds it. It's hundreds of years old, that's a lot of killing. And Lydia can sense it.” Scott said proudly.

“It's not an exact science.” Lydia pointed out, but wasn't able to hide a self satisfied smirk.

“And this is Allison,” Scott says like a love sick puppy. “She's a hunter.”

Derek tenses at first, has to remind himself that most hunters around here now and days weren't like the maniacs that had killed so many of his kind. Not since his mother, the Alpha of Beacon Hills, and the Argents, the oldest hunter family in California, had made a treaty.

He shook her hand.

Allison and Scott had done some(illegal) investigating last night when they found out who the Nogitsune had killed, and found ingredients and spell books at each of the victims houses. Derek had argued at first that the victims had all lived in Oregon, but was quickly reminded by Lydia and Deaton that the Nogitsune hadn't wanted the police to know where the victims really lived. And had more likely than not falsified their addresses.

He was surprised to find that they each had some insight into the murders and how the victims were connected. It was Lydia that figured out the spell that Theo and the others had used, how it was similar to the one that was used to bind the Nogitsune inside of Stiles in the first place. She figured out that they must not have known that breaking the spell to release the demon, and then trying another binding spell, wouldn't have worked.

“Who's the fifth?” Lydia asked, clicking threw the crime scene photos on the computer.

“What do you mean? There was only four.” Derek

“Well if Deaton's right about all the victims trying to break the binding spell, then there's going to be a another murder.”

“How do you know?” Asked Scott. “Is it like, a Banshee thing?”

Lydia rolls her eyes and is about to say something snide, but Allison gasps. “Oh! It took five of us to cast the spell, so it should have taken five to break it, right?”

Lydia nodded. “So, now the question is, who knew about the spell back then, and who would have wanted to break it?

“Who was your fifth?” Derek asked. “There are only four of you here. Did his dad help?”

“Stiles dad isn't very comfortable with magic,” Allison explained. “My aunt, Kate, helped us.”

“She was the one who found the spell.” Scott remembered. “Good thing, too, or we would have had to find an Alpha to help us turn Stiles.”

“You wouldn't happen to be an Argent, would you?” Derek asked suddenly.

“Yeah, why?” Allison said, brow creased.

“And your aunt would be Kate Argent, than.” he said, his stomach doing a weird twisting thing.

“Yeah,” Allison said again, sounding a little defensive. “Why?”

“I knew her, years ago. Back when I used to live here. She was...” Derek trailed off, trying to find the right words to describe Kate Argent.

“Kind of intense?” Lydia supplied.

Derek nodded. He didn't say how well he knew her, or that 'kind of intense' fell short of describing her. She was insane. They had dated for a few months. But when his mother and Kate's grandmother signed the treaty, she was livid. Sure, she knew he was a werewolf, but she apparently didn't think that all werewolves in the area should be off limits to hunters. They broke up after that. He strongly suspected that she was the one that had started the fire that had almost killed his family. He thought his mother had as well, but instead of getting revenge on the hunters that had clearly broken the treaty, Talia had moved the family to New York. She had kept the Hale estate the way it was, burned out and hollow. Every few years she would visit Beacon Hills, for territorial reasons. Derek never wanted to see this town again. But here he was. Back here, arguing with a girl that resembled Kate so much it hurt to look at her.

Allison shrugged and said tersely, “So?”

“She just doesn't seem like the type to help someone that had been possessed out of the goodness of her heart. “ Derek said slowly.

“Well,” Scott said, but shrank when Allison shot a glare at him. “Ally, she did find the spell.”

“Yeah, and it helped.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“She found it to try and control the Nogitsune, not to help Stiles.” Lydia said, acting like she couldn't see Allison glaring at her too.

“Wait, what?” Derek said, looking at all of them.

“It's true,” Deaton confirmed. “The spell was originally meant to control a possessed individual. To keep all the strength and power of the demon inside the host, but unable to be used unless whoever had caste the spell wished them to use it. We changed it, of course. Edited the wording and switched a few ingredients. Kate hadn't been overjoyed to find out we had changed the spell.”

“That doesn't mean anything.” Allison argued. “She wouldn't try to hurt Stiles. She wouldn't try to break the spell.”

“Allison,” Lydia said in a 'you're-so-smart-why-are-you-so-stupid' kind of voice. “She was in Oregon three months ago, the same time a group of people kidnapped Stiles and freed the Nogitsune.

Allison had tears in her eyes but didn't argue. She knew what kind of person her aunt was. Derek almost felt bad for her. Coming to terms with having a power hungry and possibly homicidal relative wasn't easy, he would know. He was almost going to tell her he understood, that his own uncle had tried to kill his sister to become Alpha after his mother had past away two years ago, but something that Lydia had said caught his attention. “What makes you think they kidnapped him?”

“The spell has to be cast over a druid pentagram, and it requires the possessed hosts blood to be spilled over it,” Lydia explained. “I doubt Stiles would have willingly sat still while they bled him and tried to free the thing that made him kill people.”

“Is that what you did the first time?” Derek asks. They all nodded. “How did you get him to stay still if the Nogitsune had taken over, how did you trap him?”

“Kanima venom.” Scott said, rubbing circles into Allison's back as she tried to pretend she wasn't fighting back tears. “We put some on the end of a sword. We pretended to attack it. It knew getting stabbed wouldn't kill it, so it let Allison run it threw. It was paralyzed almost right away because it got in the bloodstream so quickly. After that we drew the pentagram and did the spell.”

They all decided that they would have to use the venom again. Also, they still needed an Alpha to perform the bite.

“I can call Laura.” Derek offers. “She's the Hale Alpha in New York. She'll come, though. Unless there's an Alpha closer?”

They all agreed that asking Derek's sister would be preferable. Even if they could find an Alpha that was closer, and that was willing to bite Stiles, finding one they trusted in time would be near impossible.

With that part of the plan decided, they started talking about Kate and how to find her. Allison still believes that they shouldn't assume, and Derek agreed. They needed to find Kate and ask her some questions. Even with everything that was going on, he was still a cop.

They decide to break for lunch, most of them going to some diner down the road. They asked Derek if he wanted to come. He told them he'd meet them there. First, he needed to call Laura.

Once everyone was gone he pull out his cell and called. She picks up after the first ring.

“Hey, little bro! How's Oregon?” She says into the phone. It sounds far away, like he was on speaker phone. She was probably driving.

“It's fine. Or, well, it's not. I'm actually in California now.” He pauses. “I'm in Beacon Hills.”

“Why?” She asks, understandably confused.

“Do you remember Stiles?”

“Your cutie with the booty, yeah I remember.” She laughs.

“It was him.”

“What was him?”

“The murders.” He says, fiddling with some tool on Deaton's shelf.

“...Wow.” She breathes. “I gotta say, I did not see that one coming. I'm sorry, Der.”

“Yeah, me too.” He mutters. “Except, it wasn't really him. Or, it was, but it wasn't him at the time? He's being possessed by a demon. A Nogitsune.”

“Damn.” Laura says, taking him off speaker phone. He hopes she isn't still driving. “Again, I did not see that coming.”

“Me either.” He says truthfully. “Listen Laura, I need your help. I'm in Beacon Hills with some of Stiles' friends and family. Turns out he's been possessed for a while. I know, I know.” He says when she tries to interrupt. “They did a binding spell a few years ago. But some people broke it and now Stiles- the Nogitsune is killing the people that freed it. Laura, one of them is Kate.”

“Wait, Kate Kate?” She demands.

“Yeah,” he says.

“I say we let him kill the bitch.” she growls.

“Laura, not helping.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. He knows how she feels, but still.

“Ugh, fine. How can I help you save this miserable wench?”

“I actually don't need your help saving her, I need your help saving Stiles.”

0o0

Laura's flight came in the next afternoon. Derek picked her up at the airport and drove them both to the animal clinic to meet up with everyone. Two hours in and tempers were already running high.

“The Nogitsune's controlling his mind while he sleeps, yeah? Making him do all this while he can't fight it?” Laura asks while she eats her apple. “So, why don't we just wake him up?”

“Gee, why didn't we think of that?” Allison huffs.

“Look, you little-” Laura takes a step towards Allison, brandishing her apple at her.

“Hey, knock it off.” Derek snaps. “We don't have time for this. Laura, if you have another idea that doesn't involve possibly killing Stiles, we're all ears. Right, Allison?” Allison glares but nods.

Laura continues to eat her apple. “Like I was saying, all we have to do is wake him up.”

“And how do we do that?” Derek asks, not in the mood for this.

“I stab him in the back.” She grins. “Or, well, his neck.”

“Of course.” Lydia breaths. Laura looks pleased that at least someone in the room appreciates her idea. Everyone else just looks confused. Lydia elaborates. “An Alpha's claws can be used to perform a mind meld. She can go into Stiles subconscious and wake him up, get him to push the Nogitsune out. Though, it's dangerous. Have you ever done it before?”

“No,” Laura admits. Allison rolls her eyes. “But,” Laura continues, “our mother showed me how. The most important thing is that I'm not interrupted during it. I could permanently paralyze, even kill him if the bond is broken by an outsider. Also, I'll need to use someone that he knows, so he doesn't try to throw me out of his head.”

“Well, Scott can be that someone. And we'll just have to use the venom first. And wake him up before it wears off.” Lydia states. Writing it down on her laptop where she's been keeping track of the different aspects of the plan. “We'll only have one shot at this though. Deaton's running low.”

“How do you know that?” Scott asks.

“I help him with his inventory.” She says as if this was obvious. 

0o0

Finding Kate was easier than Derek had thought it would be. Allison called her, 'just to chat,' and they found out that she was actually heading back to town. Kate had said her hunting trip hadn't got so well.

“Yeah, I bet.” Lydia muttered.

“Hey, we still don't know if she had anything to do with this yet.” Allison said. Though she didn't sound as defensive as before. “We'll know tonight. She agreed to have dinner with me.”

“Okay.” Derek said. “When she comes to pick you up at your apartment, I'll be there with John. We'll bring her to the station for questioning.”

“I'll be there, too.” Scott said. “Allison and I live together.”

“Well, I should be there, too.” Lydia says. “I'll be able to sense if the Nogitsune is close.”

“If the Nogitsune shows up, I should be there with the venom.” Deaton says.

Derek sighs. “If Kate sees all of us there she's going to know somethings up.”

“But it's my apartment.” Scott pouts.

“And you need me there. Deaton too.” Lydia says, already adding it to her plan list.

Laura chuckles and claps him on the back. “Don't worry, little brother, I won’t tag along.”

“Gee, thanks sis.” Derek grumbles.

0o0

They were all waiting in the bedroom when Kate arrived. Derek could hear her exclaim with joy when Allison opened the front door to greet her. He could hear them talk excitedly for a few minutes before Allison faltered, “Um, I'm just gonna go get my jacket, then we can go.”

Allison came into the small bedroom and closed the door. “Okay, she's using the bathroom.” She grabbed her coat from the bed. “I hate lying to her. Remember, she's innocent until proven guilty.”

“We're not arresting her,” John said calmly. “Just taking her to the station for questioning.”

They all filed into the living room. When Kate came out of the bathroom she only looked mildly surprised. “Well, well, well. I didn't know it was going to be a dinner party. Allison, you should have said something. I would have dressed for the occasion.”

“Kate,” Allison began, but Kate waved her off.

“It's fine, Ali.” Kate smirked. “I was actually going to talk to you tonight about your little rag tag team. I need your help with something.”

“And what could you possibly need our help with?” Lydia asked, hand on hip.

“Well, it seems someone has released a demon. It's after me and I need a spell to stop it.”

“Oh, really?” Scott growled.

“Really.” Kate pouted. “It's awful. But, I'm sure our clever Vet will have something up his sleeve.”

Allison's mouth was slightly open. She was staring at her aunt like she had never seen her before. “I can't believe it.” She whispered. “I can't believe you actually did it.”

“What are you talking about, sweetie?” Kate asked as if she had no idea what was going on.

“She's talking about me.”

They all turned at once. Stiles was standing in the little kitchen, leaning against the counter.

“Stiles.” Scott took a step forwards only to stop like he just remembered that this thing wasn't his childhood best friend.

“Not today.” The demon chuckled. “Not for a while now. And after I deal with the lovely Ms. Kate, I'll be one hundred percent free.” He winked at Kate flirtatiously.

“We're not letting you take her.” Allison said bravely, pointing her bow at the thing that looked like the boy she had grown up with.

“I'm afraid you don't really have a choice here, Ali.” It smiled. After that the room erupted. The Nogitsune lunged forwards, laughing and dodging them as they tried to stop it. Allison stepped in front of Kate and tried to shoot him with an arrow, but Stiles shoved her aside.

Kate backed up until she hit the wall. “Please, I didn't-” she began, but the Nogitsune grabbed her arm and twisted it. Kate shrieked with pain.

John had his gun trained on the Demon. It scoffed at him. “Pops, please. You won't shoot me.”

“Don't be so sure.” John grunted and pulled the trigger.

The bullet sank into the Nogitsune's arm. It began to laugh but stopped and growled. “Again with the venom? Are you kidding me?”

“I'm afraid not.” Deaton said as if he were talking to a patient. “Derek, would you please call Laura?”

“Gladly.”

0o0

“The venom will wear off soon.” Deaton says. “It's now or never.”

Derek nodded, not completely happy, but knowing they had to act quickly.

Laura nods and positions herself behind Stiles. The Nogitsune starts shifting, struggling against the venom. Glaring at them all, muttering incoherently due to the tape over its mouth. Scott takes his place on the couch next to the Nogitsune. Laura takes a deep breath, and then plunges her claws into both their necks. Scott and the Nogitsune gasp then go very still, their eyes going glossy.

0o0

It's been nine minutes so far. Derek's been nervously pacing the whole time. What if it didn't work? What if not only Stiles died, but Scott and Laura as well? Was it supposed to take this long? What if something went wrong and they were stuck like this forever? What if-

Laura gasped suddenly and fell back. Scott fell forwards, looking like he was going to vomit. So did Stiles.

Stiles started clawing at the tape over his mouth. When he finally ripped it off he actually did start to throw up. Black and gray sludge began flowing from his mouth. He was hacking and spewing it on the floor. He started clawing into his mouth, grabbing onto something that looked like rope, no, more like bandages. Stiles started pulling and pulling, gagging on it.

After what seemed like hours, but was really no more than a minute, he came to the end of it, gasping. Stiles quickly shuffled back when the pile of blackened and soggy bandages started to move. Hands started to claw their way out, like the pile was covering a pit. Some creature begin to emerge from the pile, it's entire body covered in the same old bandages. Everyone was looking on in horror as the thing started to rip and tear at its coverings, unraveling them to reveal-

Stiles?

It was quiet for all of three seconds before the room erupted, everyone talking over each other.

“Which one's the real Stiles?” Allison asked, pointing her bow at the one that had just come crawling out of the pile.

“Grab them both!” Laura snapped.

“Don't hurt either of them until we know who's who!” John yelled.

“We have to do something!” Scott said from the floor, staring at the Stiles that was still half covered in bandages.

“We'll do a test.” Lydia states, as if everyone had lost their minds, which, Derek thought, was kind of the case.

“Yes,” Deaton agreed. “I'll call the Yukimura's. The Oni can be here by nightfall, we'll know then.”

“Well, we should tie them both up until then.” Laura says hotly. They all agree.

The problem was, there was only one Stiles. The one that crawled out of the ground.

“Where's the other one?” Allison asks, pointing her bow around the room, as if she'll spot it in a corner. “And Kate?”

0o0

“What the hell happened?” Derek demands. “You were supposed to sense the damn thing.”

“I told you it wasn't an exact science.” Lydia said, her hands shaking slightly. “I can sense him now. I don't know why I couldn't before.”

Deaton hummed. “Well, if it had been following Kate, she might have put a cloaking spell on herself. She was never that gifted with magic. It might have affected the Nogitsune as well. They would have been connected after the spell her and the others used.”

“Whatever.” Derek sighed in frustration. Not wanting to hear more magical theories. “You can sense it now?”

“Yes. We can track it. I think.”

“You think?” Derek almost growled.

“I've only done it once before. And that was years ago. And it was kind of by accident.”

“It's okay, Lydia.” Scott chimed in, “Derek, Laura and I should be able to track Kate's smell. You try and get a lock on the Nogitsune. Call us if you get anything.”

“What about Stiles?” Derek asks. They all turned to look at Stiles sitting in the other room. Alison was pointing her bow at him, but in Derek's opinion, he looked too exhausted to put up much of a fight even if he wanted to. “Are we even sure that's the real one?”

“Well, considering the other one has absconded with Kate, I'm fairly certain that we have the real one.” Deaton said. “Though to be on the safe side, I'll call the Yukimura's so we can check with the Oni.”

Derek was still unsure. Lydia must have noticed his hesitation because she added, “We'll call you if anything changes with him.”

0o0

Derek and Scott both shifted to their beta forms and were running through downtown when Scott's phone started vibrating. “What have you got, Lyds?” he slurred over his fangs, putting the phone on speaker.

“I can feel he's in a basement. There are pipes coming out of the walls.”

“That doesn't narrow it down too much.” Scott sighed.

“I know, I'm sorry.” She huffed in frustration. “Every time I think I have a read on it, I get a fit of coughing. It's like-,”

“Smoke inhalation.” Derek supplied, his stomach dropping.

“Yes, exactly. How'd you know?”

“It's taken her to the old Hale estate.”

0o0

It took them close to fifteen minutes to run through the woods to Derek's childhood home. He had texted Laura on the way. Why had it taken Kate there, of all places?

When they got closer to the house they could hear Kate crying, begging for the thing to have mercy on her. They could hear it's response in Stiles voice.

“This scenario is ringing a bell, Katie, don't you think? Oh, I know! Didn't Stiles beg you to stop cutting up his arms and chest three months ago?” Kate screamed. “Now, not that I'm not thrilled to be back in control, really, I just think it's funny that you sound even more pitiable than he did. A lot louder to. Less swearing though, I must admit.” It chuckled. “That kid has a mouth on him, eh?”

They crept as quietly as they could through the house and down the stairs to the basement. Derek swore when the last step broke under his weight and alerted the Nogitsune.

“Der bear and Scottie, how nice of you to join us!” The Nogitsune said cheerfully as he grabbed Kate and used her as a human shield.

“Let her go.” Scott demanded.

The Nogitsune shook its head. “Scottie, after what she did to me? She tortured me. Made me bleed all over the floor. I'm just giving her what she deserves.”

“I know you're not Stiles.” He growled. “Let her go.”

The demon scoffs and turns to Derek. “Derek, we've been together for three months. You won't' hurt me.”

“I was with Stiles.”

“You sure?” It leers at him. “Are you sure that every single time you kissed him, it wasn't really me? Hm?”

“Stop” He growls and moves forward, only stopping when Kate gasps in pain when the Nogitsune tightens his grip on her throat.

“I'd be doing you a favor, Der bear.” it says in a sickeningly sweet voice. “I know you want her dead as much as I do.”

“You're wrong.” Derek growls.

“I know what she did to you. To your family.” It licks the side of Kate's face when she struggles. “I don't blame you for falling for her, she is very tasty.”

“What happened wasn't her fault. Even if it was, I won't let you kill her.” Derek says.

The Nogitsune laughs. “And how do you plan on stopping me, huh? I know your little spell won't work. Not this time.” It sneers at Scott.

“You're right.” Scott says. “We'll just have to go with plan A, than.”

Just then Derek sees Laura leap out of the shadows and pounce on the Nogitsune, sinking her teeth into it's neck. It lets out the most gut wrenching scream Derek has ever heard.

It lets go of Kate who stumbles forwards, Scott catches her before she falls.

“You bitch!” it shrieks, clutching its neck where Laura had bitten it. It staggers, gasping and swearing. It's face slowly crumbling away.

0o0

Derek, Laura and Scott were driving to the sheriff station to drop off Kate when Scott's cell vibrated with a text. Derek had called his superiors earlier and filled them in. They would be sending another agent to deal with Kate. Apparently she has been a person of interest in multiple cases, from questionable supernatural hunting trips, to regular breaking and entering. This was the final straw. Releasing a demon wasn't something you could sweep under the rug. Especially when so many people had died.

Scott was sitting shotgun while Laura watched Kate in the backseat. “Oh my God.” He exclaimed.

“What?” Laura asked.

“Lydia says that they had to take Stiles to the hospital. He collapsed and isn't waking up.” Scott says, already typing a reply.

Derek pressed down on the accelerator.

0o0

It's been five days and Stiles still hasn't woken up.

Deaton had assured them all that Stiles will wake up any time, that being unconscious was normal after demon possession. He later told Derek that he had never heard of someone being possessed for longer than a year. And Stiles had technically been possessed by the Nogitsune since he was seventeen. “I'm not saying he won't wake up, but Stiles has been out for far longer than I thought he would be.”

Derek has come to visit Stiles in the hospital everyday. He would spend all night there if it hadn't been for John telling him to go get a good night's sleep. He hadn't told John that he and Stiles had been dating back in Oregon. He hadn't told anyone. He knew Scott knew, and was pretty sure Lydia knew, but he didn't really want to tell anyone else. He wasn't even sure if Stiles would want to after this. He tried not to think about it, tried to keep busy with paperwork and the like.

Whenever his thoughts would wander in that direction it made his stomach twist and turn. What if Stiles didn't want to see him anymore? What if the only reason he had even gone out with Derek was because Derek had been the lead detective on the case and he had wanted to be as close as possible, to try and help him solve it sooner. What if he had used Derek the whole time?

On the third day Derek had received a call from the Council of Supernatural Elders. Apparently the CSE had been aware of Stiles and the Nogitsune being bound together, but now that the demon had been released and once again killed 'innocent' people, action would be taken.

“A decision is being made as to what action will be taken with Mr. Stilinski, pending an interview once he regains consciousness.”

Derek asked what sort of action they were referring to, but apparently they couldn't divulge that sort of information.

On the fifth day Derek was in the shower when he heard his phone go off in the other room. He finished rinsing off before padding over and checking the message.

On the screen was a missed call from Scott and a text from Lydia with two words.

“HE'S AWAKE.”

0o0

Derek rushed through the halls, hair still dripping wet. He rounded the corner and saw Scott, Allison and Lydia talking with a nurse. “Derek, hey.” greeted Scott. “This is my mom, Melissa.”

“Nice to meet you.” Derek shook her hand. “Is he still awake? Can I see him?”

“Not yet,” the nurse, Melissa, said. “John is in there with him and a few men from the CSE, they won't let anyone else in.”

Derek swore under his breath and pulled out his badge, but before he could push open the door to Stiles' room, the CSE came out.

“Mr. Hale, so good to see you again.”

“Deucalion.” Derek said stiffly, shaking hands with the man and nodding at the other counsel member. “You should have waited to speak with my suspect until I was here.”

“I have already spoken with your superiors about our interview with Mr. Stilinski. You will of course receive a full report of our interview, as well as our disciplinary decision regarding this case tomorrow. Good day, Mr. Hale.” Deucalion swept past him.

“Wow,” Scott said. “That guy seems kinda...”

“Deucalion is a pushy jerk.” Derek said tersely. “But he's fair. I need to speak to Stiles. Excuse me.”

Derek pushed open the door to find Stiles sitting up in the hospital bed, his dad speaking softly to him while rubbing circles on his son's back.

“Hey,” Derek said, feeling stupid for not thinking up something better to say to his boyfriend(were they still boyfriends?)that had been unconscious for the better part of a week.

“Hey,” Stiles croaked, voice horse from disuse. He turned to his dad. “Can you give us a minute?”

“You sure?” John asked. Stiles nodded. 

Derek and John nodded at one another as he walked to the door. Derek waited till the door was shut before asking, “How are you feeling?”

Stiles shrugged. “Still tired. I slept kinda. I was mostly unconscious. Does that count as sleeping? I don't feel like I slept, so maybe not.” He said all of this very fast and in the same breath. “How are you?”

“I'm alright. Tired, too, I guess.” Derek said. Stiles nodded. Derek thought he seemed nervous. “You know, I'm not here to get your statement? I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Yeah, I figured. Deucalion said that the CSE had taken over the investigation.”

Derek gritted his teeth. “Did he now?”

“Is that not true?”

“Oh, I'm sure it's true. They have more resources to do the whole cover up thing. Makes sense.”

“They're going to cover it up?” Stiles seemed agitated by this.

“Well, yeah. They can't exactly make a press statement about how those people really died.”

“I guess. I just assumed...”

“They'll call a meeting and deliberate. No trial. I'll talk with the CSE, see what I can do. Maybe get you a reduced sentence.” Derek said.

“No.” Stiles said.

“No what?” Derek asked.

“Don't ask for a reduced sentence.”

“What? Why?” Derek asked, incredulous.

“I killed four people.” Stiles stated.

“That wasn't you. It wasn't your fault.” Derek said. Stiles scoffed and turned his head. “It wasn't your fault.” Derek said again, more firmly.

“Yes it was.” Stiles said, tears threatening to fall. “It was my fault. I should have told someone. I should have told you or Scott or my dad. But I didn't. For Christ sake, I mutilated bodies of my own free will. That was my choice. He didn't make me do that. I did that all on my own.”

“You were trying to leave clues.”

“A fat lot of good that did. Four Innocent people are dead and had their bodies cut open and it was me that did it. Why is nobody doing anything? Why am I just sitting here un-handcuffed? I should be chained to the bed. You should-”

“Stop.” Derek said, reaching over and grabbing his shoulder. Stiles set his jaw and took a deep breath. Derek couldn't help but think he looked... fragile. Despite his anger at not being locked up, he was still scared. “I want you to listen to me, okay? Really listen. What happened was not your fault. You are one of the victims. That thing threatened you and your family. You played along with it for your own safety as well as the safety of your loved ones.”

“But-”

“No.” Derek said firmly. “Stiles, you feel guilty for what happened, and I'm not telling you to just stop feeling that way. But I will tell you that I've seen this type of thing before. Mostly in domestic violence and Stockholm syndrome cases. What you did you did to survive. And I know this doesn't fix it or make it better, but those people that died were not good people. They were not nice or innocent. Did they deserve to die? I don't know. They sure as hell would have been arrested and thrown in jail for what they did.”

“What about what I did?” Stiles whispered, tears running down his face. “I still have to live with what I did. Please, don't ask for any special treatment for me.”

“Stiles...”

“Please?”

Derek sighed and leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “Okay. But for the record, I don't blame you for what happened.”

“You should.”

“Well I don't.”

It was a moment before Derek spoke again. “I don't regret what we had.” That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, though, because now Stiles was avoiding his gaze. Derek's stomach sank, which seemed ridiculous, to be worried about something as little as a three month relationship considering everything that was going on. But he had to ask. “Do you regret it?”

“No.” Stiles shook his head. “I just, I lied to you, Derek. I used you, you realize that, don't you?”

“I figured. Once I found out about the Nogitsune.”

“I'm sorry.” Stiles said. He really looked it. “I didn't mean for it to go as far as it did. I needed to get close to the lead investigator on the case. I was going to just drop hints and stuff, but then I got to know you, and we got... closer. And I just, I'm so sorry.” Stiles said, fingers running over the IV in his hand. “I really did like you. I... I liked you a lot.”

“And now?”

“Now?” Stiles looked confused. “Derek, I basically just told you that our entire relationship was based on a lie.”

“I know. But does that mean it was all a lie?”

Stiles hesitated. “No. I mean, I know I wasn't always truthful with you, but I never lied about how I felt about you.”

“And now?” Derek asked again.

“Now... I still feel the same.”

“So do I.”

“Even after knowing what I did?” Stiles asked, searching Derek's face for the lie.

Derek placed his hand over Stiles one that was still absentmindedly messing with the IV. “Yeah. Even after all that. I still like you. And I want to get to know you. The real you.”

0o0

A week later Stiles gets a visit from Deucalion. He informs him that the CSE has decided against imprisonment. Though they have decided that due to being possessed two times, Stiles is no longer eligible to register as an emissary. Even if Deaton fully trained him, the CSE would never approve his application.

Stiles was crushed. Being an Emissary was all he had ever wanted to do since he found out about the supernatural world. Though he agreed that this was preferable to going to prison.

Stiles had started seeing a therapist, Marin Morrell twice a week. She's Deaton's half sister and knew all about the supernatural, so Stiles could speak freely about everything.

He talked with Derek about it sometimes, with Morrell's encouragement.

Little things about what he had gone through. What the Nogitsune had done, what it had made him do. 

It was past midnight and they where sitting in Derek's bed. It was going to be the first night Stiles would try to stay over. He was having trouble sleeping, so Derek suggested they stay up and talk until Stiles fell asleep.

“What about the heart?” Derek asked.

“It thought it would be funny. Poetic justice.” Stiles replied.

“How so?”

“Well, Matt and I had, um, dated a bit. Turned out it was just part of their plan.” Stiles was picking lint off of the blanket on the bed as he continued. “The Nogitsune, he said he had ripped out Matt's heart because he had betrayed mine. I dunno. I think he was trying to win me over or something.”

“Did he?”

Stiles shrugged. “No. I don't know. It was weird. It wasn't like before. I mean, I was still scared out of my mind most of the time. But...”

“What?”

Stiles sighed. “Look, I know the thing was evil. I know that. And I wanted it gone. But... When it took control, it was, not nice, but... different? Like, I could almost feel what it felt. Not the hate and anger and blood lust, but, like... loneliness? Like, it wanted me to choose to stay. It wanted me to accept it." 

“Did you?”

“No.” Stiles said. “But if you guys hadn't separated us when you did... I might have.” Stiles glanced at Derek. “Is that awful?” 

“I think,” Derek said quietly, kissing Stiles on the top of his head. “That even a thing like that knew you were special, and wanted to be with you.”

Stiles laughed and pushed him away. “You're such a sap.” Stiles' face fell slightly. “Seriously though, do you think that's fucked up? Me wanting to stay? Wanting it to stay?”

“Do you wish it was still here?”

“No.”

“Then, no.” Derek said, running his hands up and down Stiles arms. “I think that given the situation, its normal to want to give in. But I'm really glad you didn't.”

“Yeah,” Stiles smiled softly. “Me, too.”


End file.
